Shifts in Compensating Work-Related Injuries and Diseases

Abstract

In 2003 the research programme Compensation for damage — the shift from civil law to public funding and vice versa started under the supervision of Prof. Dr Willem H. van Boom (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Prof. Dr Michael F. Faure LL.M (University of Maastricht) and with financial support of the Dutch Scientific Organisation (NWO). Inspired by recent changes in the legal basis for compensating damage, this research programme aims at analysing shifts in paradigm with regard to compensation for damage across the borderline between civil law and public funding and vice versa. Several trends are discernable in this respect. On the one hand, there are clear signs of shifts being made from public funding to compensation systems based on civil law and individual responsibility. On the other hand, there are also developments which would seem to mirror shifts from individual responsibility to public funding or alternative systems of solidarity, such as compulsory insurance.